Catholics would do well to take stock of the many blessings God has bestowed upon us over the past 12 months while preparing for the year to come.
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A Year of Blessings
Letter from the District Superior
Dear faithful,
The world is welcoming a new year. The days are growing shorter and the thermometer is plummeting. Winter has come and will not let us enjoy pleasant walks outdoors for many months.
This is the season where one enjoys a cozy evening around the fire, whether it adorns an affluent home or the humblest cottage. Family members, who were perhaps oblivious of one another for most the year, now have a chance to catch up and enjoy their time together. We are compelled to fight against the elements, and this struggle to keep warm and fit is a healthy and invigorating battle which can only bring out the best in us. After all, the European Crusaders who established the Kingdom of Jerusalem soon realized that they were become soft and inept for fighting because they lived under warmer climates.
The inclement temperatures and harsh precipitations lead to a forced retrenchment. We tend to hibernate while keeping up with only the most vital activities. There is in a way a sense of intimacy and detachment, com-manded by the season, which is healthy and induces us to focus on the essentials. It is easier to attain to what Solzhenitsyn called “the first human right,” which is “the right not to be encumbered with futilities”!
To some, I should say to most of us, this season seems painfully long and boring. If it can bring the best of the best souls, it is likely to make the weaker among us more sheltered, more distant, and even selfish. The longevity of the night and the cold dims our spirits. We need to open up our mind and souls to the sun, but it is on the far horizon, and more often than not, it hides behind persistent clouds.
We need to be men “for all seasons,” for the good and the bad times, in the days of plenty and the days of want. God designed us to go through the seasons and there is a special grace attached to each one. I think the seasonal grace of winter is perseverance. Wherever we are, whatever our state in life, especially after the “high” of Christmas, we need to plough through thick and thin and not get discouraged. For whoever falls prey to discouragement or, worse, despair “is not worthy of Me,” said Our Blessed Lord. A sacred writer gave the recipe for sainthood. “It is quite simple. You need a sprinkle of faith, a teaspoon of knowledge, a barrel of char-ity, and an ocean of patience!”
“Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” We have seen better days and we might be heading for greater dif-ficulties. But, blessed shall we be if, unruffled by the “future unknown troubles,” we simply keep press ahead. God blesses those who distrust themselves and the world, and set their whole trust in Him alone. Let us all seek God’s blessings through patient perseverance in these troubled times.
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Further topics covered in the full newsletter:
- Tradition on the Move - Michigan
- New Brothers at the Brothers' Retreat
- Boys' Visit to Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery
- New Seminary in Virginia
- Third Order of Carmel Discalced celebrates 10 years at St. Anthony’s, North Caldwell NJ.
- Photos from around the District
- Book Review: Advice to Successful Families
